Palace overcome the omens by pocketing points without Zaha
For the first time in 812 days, Crystal Palace won a league game without Wilfried Zaha.
Luka Milivojevic’s 39th-minute strike lit up a drab match on a gloomy day in south-east London to finally bring festive cheer to Selhurst Park.
“Like all facts, there’s often stories behind them,” said Roy Hodgson of the Zaha record. “I think on a lot of occasions we’ve done more than enough to win games when he hasn’t played but it’s quite nice to put that one to bed. It’s something which has got people talking more than it’s got us talking.”
The omens ahead of kick-off did not look good and the mood was low following away losses at West Ham and Brighton, leaving Palace languishing amongst the strugglers. To add to the anxiety, their Ivorian talisman was suspended.
The Palace faithful had only seen their team score four times at home all season and they only had one shot on target against Claude Puel’s side.
Fortunately, it was a good one as Palace captain Milivojevic received the ball from Andros Townsend and fired it from 25 yards, low into the left corner.
Leicester, who came to this game unbeaten in six of their last seven games, were disappointing.
“We didn’t start this game with the right intensity,” said Puel. “They put us under pressure with the right pressing. We had a lot of difficulty. We tried to change things a little with Demarai Gray behind Jamie [Vardy] and I think we managed better with a little more quality. In the second half, I think we deserved to come back in the game. A draw was the right result.”
Vardy saw little of the ball, though looked threatening when he did. His first key intervention was to bundle over Palace keeper Vicente Guaita and slide the ball home. Michael Oliver rightly ruled out the goal and awarded Palace a free kick.
Despite having almost two thirds of the possession, the Foxes were struggling for creativity, but did offer a little more threat after half-time.
The closest they came was when Kelechi Iheanacho cleverly teed up Vardy and the England man struck the post via an excellent save from Guaita.
Vardy took his frustration out by slapping the crossbar in apparent disbelief at being prevented.
Before that, Rachid Ghezzal, on at half-time in place of James Maddison, had gone close with a sidefoot volley beyond the far post after good work from Gray down the left.
This was a game more notable for the solidity of its defending than the fluidity of its attacking. Harry Maguire again impressed for Leicester while Martin Kelly deputised well for James Tomkins in the home defence.
The result lifts Palace five clear of the bottom three with a trip to the Etihad Stadium next up on the calendar.
Leicester also face Manchester City on Tuesday night in the Carabao Cup quarter-final at the King Power Stadium with league games against the champions and Chelsea to follow.
It could well be a lean Christmas in the East Midlands.